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Wednesday, 27 March 2013

The Devil's Metal (Devils #1) by Karina Halle

It’s the summer of 1974 and 21-year old Dawn Emerson has only three things she wants to do: compete one last time in the Ellensburg Rodeo, win back her ex-boyfriend Ryan, and become the best damn music journalist at Central Washington University. But all her plans are left in the dust when she’s contacted by Creem magazine to go on the road with one of her favorite groups, the up-and-coming metal band, Hybrid.

At first the assignment reads like a dream come true. Not only will Dawn land some much-needed credibility as a female music journalist, but she’ll finally get to experience life from the other side of the stage, and maybe crack the drunken, enigmatic code that is guitarist Sage Knightly. Instead, Dawn finds herself on an aging tour bus filled with ego-maniacs, band politics and a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. When monsters start showing up in dressing rooms and some of Sage’s groupies become increasingly strange and dangerous, Dawn discovers the band is not only going places – they’re going straight to Hell.
And Dawn has a backstage pass.
***The Devil's Metal is the first book in a two-part New Adult Horror/Paranormal Romance and very (very!) loosely based on the author's exploits as a music journalist. Hell comes in different forms.

Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery

Creatures: demons

Age: new adult

Source: owned ebook

Read from March 23 to 25, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

“Everyone has the chance to become dangerous. If the right weather patterns are created. If the right feelings are invoked…feelings of injustice. Jealousy. Feelings of being owed something they believe they have a right to have. To…collect. We all have it in us to become a danger, either to others or to ourselves. It’s only a matter if the right clouds are brewing. Certain clouds will create a storm.”

Karina Halle has done it again! Awesome setting (1974 year + music tours + pure awesomeness) + story + characters + main characters + metal music + musicians = epic! While we are at it, who doesn’t love musicians(not to mention I am also metal girl)? Anyway, I really loved this book. It was interesting, it was attention gripper and it certainly didn’t disappoint me. I actually didn’t know what to expect at first, because I didn’t even read the summary, but then again, it proved to be wise decision, it made my guessing far more interesting.

“Be careful what you wish for...”

Actually, it turned out that I guessed right and that it wasn’t much of a plot twist except I thought they were all demons, not just Graham and Jacob(who isn’t a demon but something else).And this story is scary, really scary, so if you are fan of horror, this is a book for you! Writing style is awesome as usual, and I have no complaints there. And ending…that freaking ending! It was mostly “what the hell…” or “no freaking way that just happened” type for me, and I loved it. Thankfully, there is no cliffhanger, or I would go crazy with anticipation.

STORY:

Dawn is a musician journalist, and she got an opportunity job – to write about the Metal Band “Hybrid”. She accepts, being a fan herself, but when she meets the band members, weird stuff starts happening. And what she didn't expect was that she will fall in love.

“Those bands, you plan your life around them. You plan vacations around concert dates. You save babysitting money for records. You live for those days when Creem magazine arrives in your dusty mailbox and you frantically flip through it for any information on your favorites. The bands, the musicians that you love, they love you back. And when they quit, when they fall apart, when they die—they ruin that future you thought they’d always be a part of.”

CHARACTERS:

Karina Halle is damn awesome about one thing especially: her characters! You care about every one of them, and they are usually well developed. You will fall in love in some of them. The whole book is from Dawn’s first person point of view, but I didn’t mind it, because Karina Halle is excellent in writing that way.

♦ Dawn:

She is strong heroine, capable, redhead (for me it’s important), she was never annoying. She is in a sort of dysfunctional family – her father is alcoholic, but he loves them, her mother committed suicide, her brother Eric has Tourette syndrome and he gets picked on at school. And Dawn is forced to be a mother now. She has a best friend Mel, who is crazy as hell and usually calls Dawn a “bitch”, but it is just how they poke each other. And then, she gets a dream job – and she wants to do it. But she never expected that job to be dangerous. Even when the weird stuff started happening, she didn’t truly believe in them, she thought she was hallucinating or that maybe she was drugged or something, Not to mention her sense of humor – it made me lol so many times!

Dawn: “You seemed a bit snappish at breakfast, last night too. Thought maybe you have an object lodged up your ass or something. Something a doctor should remove” Sage: “Excuse me?” Dawn: “Well, do you?”

♦ Sage:

I have a new book boyfriend. He is pretty, he is a guitarist of the band Hybrid(why are the main characters of music theme books always singers or guitarist), and he is a mystery. I actually thought for a while that he is a demon , but when I stroked that thought, it turned out that I guessed the other thing that he, in fact, made a deal with the demons/devil.. We find out a little about him, and find that he has some things in common with Dawn too. He is also nice, and doesn’t seem like a cheater type of guy (thank god). Let’s leave it at that, he needs his mystery.

♦ Other characters:

From the members of the Hybrid, we have: Graham, who is way to creepy. Robbie, who is interesting, Noelle is a bad girl type and she has boyfriend Mickey who is cool too. And then we have Jacob, their manager; Bob, their driver; Chip, their sound editor (?), GTFO fanigrls (Sonja being the main groupie bitch) and Mel, Dawn’s friend. Mel made me laugh so many times. And ofc, some of them i wanted to slaughter...

CONCERNING THE END:

*spoilers - serious spoilers*:

cross it over with mouse to see: (spoiler)-I actually knew that Sage made a deal with the devil! I knew it mwahhaaa -I am glad that Graham got what he deserved -Thankful that Sage survived his 28 year xD -I was sad when half of the characters died T_T -Surprised when I figured out what Jacob really is (not a bad guy I see) -Question: when did she wish for anything??? (end of spoiler)

OVERALL:

Karina Halle is awesome, I love all of her books, and I certainly love this one too. It will probably have everything you need – and will make you lust for more. I am lusting too. Do you see me lusting? Cause I am *p*

Buddy read details:

BUDDY READ with Georgia (my Greek Goddess), Debra (i love you my woman) and Joana and Airah on March 23! AND GIRLS....